Digital Equality
Words by Jacklyn Guay
Design by Belle Vo
Access to digital tools is a right, not a privilege. Just ask Ruth. This young woman from Malawi is using a smartphone to earn a living and help close the gender gap in tech. Here’s how.
Ruth Kaluzi’s first business was selling zigege, which are deep-fried chips and a popular street food in Malawi. Her chips were delicious, but she only had a handful of customers each day. She was excited to enroll in a training program to build a business selling clothes, but she wasn’t sure how to attract customers.
After brainstorming with the Plan International staff running the adolescent girls and young women program in Malawi, Ruth and other participants came up with a smart idea. “We learned to use WhatsApp for Business [on our smartphones],” explains Ruth. “We also created a page on Facebook, so now our customers who live far away are aware of the products we’re selling. Before, I wasn’t known by a lot of people, but now it’s possible for me to have customers even outside of my community.”
Digital marketing has increased Ruth’s earnings, which has brought freedom and security to her life, allowing her to do something as fundamental as buy menstrual pads. “If young women ask their parents for money to buy them, they say ‘You are grown now, and we don’t have money for your needs,’” explains Ruth. “I always wondered how I would get pads, but now these challenges are a thing of the past – I can pay for what I need.”
Financial independence also means that Ruth doesn’t have to engage in risky behaviours, like having sex with older men, to earn money. She says that other girls in her community are often forced to make this decision, but because she participated in the program, she’s now independent and can care for herself.
Striving towards digital Equity
Ruth’s empowering transformation is one of the reasons Sharon Njobo is proud of the work she and her Plan International colleagues are doing in Malawi. “Our program [which started in 2017] challenges the assumption that the minute someone has a cellphone, they are no longer in need of support,” explains Njobo, a Plan International Canada program manager for projects financed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The work in Malawi reminds the Toronto-based Njobo of her tech-inspired transformation growing up in Zimbabwe. Even though her family didn’t have a television, radio or a phone, Sharon became a broadcast journalist. The irony of walking kilometres to a friend’s home to watch herself reporting on the news was never lost on her.
“Education and technology were the catalysts that enabled me to carve out a career path – in journalism and now international development – that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise,” she explains. “It’s a personal mission to ensure that my life story isn’t the exception. We must shift our thinking and see technology not as a nice-to-have but a necessity.”
This necessity became even more apparent during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
While there was a 10% increase in global internet users, billions are still without access. Without this vital lifeline to socialize, secure life-saving information and continue education or income streams, children and families faced an increased risk of abuse as well as medical and mental health challenges.
DigitALL: International Women’s Day (IWD) 2023
“Cracking the code that bridges the digital gender-equality gap” is the United Nations theme for IWD 2023. This theme was chosen to support the upcoming United Nations 67th Commission on the Status of Women, which will focus on finding ways to use innovation and tech to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls.
According to the UN Women Gender Snapshot 2022 report, there’s also a financial cost when women are excluded from the digital world. It’s estimated that in the past decade, $1 trillion has been shaved from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries. If the digital gender gap isn’t addressed, that loss will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025.
Learn how Plan International Canada is helping bridge the gap in female leadership on International Women's Day 2023 and beyond.
Why digital access is a right
“Some donors wonder whether providing access to tech is as urgent as food, water and health care,” notes Njobo. “No one should have to choose which one is more pressing, especially after seeing the repercussions of digital inequality during the pandemic. We used technology to distribute health information as well as goods and services efficiently.”
Case in point: Ruth.
Njobo says the small-business training program is helping more than 80 women ages 16 to 24 become financially secure, empowered and healthy. Like Ruth, many participants use the proceeds from their businesses to invest in themselves and their health. “They can now pay tuition or [have the financial freedom to] escape forced marriages,” notes Njobo. “Some returned to school, where they learned about HIV/AIDS, how it’s transmitted and how to prevent infection.”
One web to unite us all? The net data:
Source: United Nations International Telecommunication Union (UNITU)
And there’s another important upside. At first, Njobo says, some women weren’t even sure they had the right to take up bandwidth on the free Wi-Fi. “When you are socialized to ask permission for everything and restricted from doing things that everybody else does, you don’t think you have that right,” she explains. “But with the mobile apps, we could show them that they have as much right as anyone else to create a virtual office and be the CEO of their own business.”
The women could also access “phone wallets” to manage their funds and receive payments without having a banking account. This alone is a considerable barrier buster, as many banks are too far away or require minimum balances and charge fees. It also means they don’t have to risk walking around with cash.
Globalization, localization and the power to choose
It’s important to remember that until everyone has access, the internet doesn’t represent the views, stories and communities of more than half of the world. Searching for relatable figures, stories or content online can be daunting for young women from low-income countries. When they do share their perspectives, they can be subject to online harassment and experience the same marginalization and backlash online that they encounter in their daily lives. In addition to promoting online environments where all can safely contribute, training and support surrounding cyber safety, data privacy and misinformation are key to achieving true online equity.
To create a welcoming and safe space, Plan International launched Girls Out Loud, a global online project that connects girls in 15 countries across Africa, Asia and South America. Through this group, the girls can freely exchange information through social media groups and discuss what matters most to them.
Another valid concern is that access to the internet may expose individuals and communities to alternative ideas and cultures that challenge or negatively influence their understanding of their own culture and its values.
“That’s something to consider, but technology can strengthen local cultures by building on the shared values and connections,” says Njobo. “When people and communities aren’t part of the global conversation, humanity misses out on their potential contributions.”
To create a just and equal society, every person must be present – and be welcome – in the spaces where people share their voices, whether virtual or IRL [in real life]. It’s not just about access; it’s about participation, advocacy and representation. It’s about Ruth sharing her story directly with a video filmed on her phone – and people being able to see and hear her.
On that note, the last word goes to Ruth:
“It’s important that girls use and are exposed to tech because they are often on the sideline,” she says. “This program has helped me be independent and take care of myself. I am sure I will have my own farm to grow rice and sell it one day.”
When women and girls access information and communication technologies (ICTs), they start businesses, sell products in new markets and find better-paid jobs; pursue an education; obtain health and financial services; exchange information; and participate more fully in public life.
Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be possible until we close the digital gender gap. Mobile phones are the most frequent way to access the internet worldwide and could be key to reaching this goal.
Closing the digital gender gap
Globalization, localization and the power to choose
More women and girls taking tech – and their futures – into their own hands around the globe
Girls like 15-year-old Tho have some online access in her northern Vietnam community. And it’s necessary. “Even with the risks, smartphones are a crucial part of how we girls learn about the outside world,” she explains.
Dorcas, 20, took part in a Plan International awareness campaign and now hosts her own online show where she discusses sexual and reproductive health and rights for young people in Togo.
Students engage with a digital learning kiosk installed by Plan International at their secondary school in Nepal.
Evelyn is a community volunteer taking part in Plan International’s Collaborative Action Against Trafficking project in the Philippines where she teaches about the dangers of online targeting, trafficking and exploitation.
Brendy, 12, participates in Plan International sponsorship programs in Peru, including those tackling significant local issues like gender-based discrimination. Here, she studies from home using a smartphone.
Youth participate in a solidarity march from a refugee camp in Malawi, flagging their right to access information and connection online.
About one-third of the world’s population has never used the internet; approximately 96% of that one-third live in low-income countries.
Most of those unconnected are women and girls, especially in low-income countries and remote areas – and the digital gender divide continues to expand.
In 2020, only 19% of women in the world’s least-developed countries used the internet, compared to 86% of women in developed countries (in 2019).
Sharon Njobo, a Plan International Canada program manager for projects financed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, visits projects in Zimbabwe.
Ruth (right) talks about her challenges and experiences with Sharon (left) in Malawi.
This is what 16-year-old Stecia dreams for the world from her community in Uganda.
Lucinda tries to get a mobile phone signal in the remote mountains of Bolivia.
A Plan International-supported taskforce uses smartphones to register community members for COVID-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
Girls attend a digital rights and safety training program from their remote village in the mountains of Vietnam.
What you can do
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"I can express my talents on social media." – Macu, who takes part in Girls Out Loud in Timor-Leste.
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Source: United Nations International Telecommunication Union (UNITU)
Ruth is a natural entrepreneur! She says she’s already doubled her initial capital with her retail business, and today she’s using the profits to buy rice wholesale and then sell it to grocery shops. “I didn’t want my money to be idle,” she says. One day, she hopes to have saved enough money to go to school to become a nurse.